When Zambia pulled off a major shock by beating Nigeria 1-0 on Friday to win the bronze medal at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, it marked the second time that the Super Falcons have failed to make it to the podium at the flagship championship for women’s football in the continent.

While they have won nine times in the 12 editions of the tournament, they made one other podium appearance when they beat Cameroon 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the third place match at the 2008 edition.

But on another instance in 2012, Cameroon beat them 1-0 at the losers’ final match just as Zambia did Friday night.  

The Copper Queens clinched the third position for the first time in their history thanks to an unfortunate own goal by the Nigerian goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie in Casablanca.

The goal inadvertently scored by the Super Falcons shot-stopper Nnadozie was enough for the Zambians to claim their first medal in the history of the tournament. 

The Queens got the better of the record title holders Nigeria who paid the price for their profligacy and finished outside the top three for the first time in ten years.

Bruce Mwape’s ladies showed early glimpses of an upset in the game with some delightful display which paid off on the half hour mark.

But the Super Falcons were a constant threat with Ngozi Okobi Okeoghene and Christy Ucheibe failing to score from decent opportunities.

A thunderous strike from Evarine Katongo from the edge of the box struck the woodwork but Nnadozie could not deal with the rebound as the ball hit her to enter the net on 29 minutes.

Nigerian star Gift Monday struck the post before Zambia goalkeeper goalkeeper Hazel Nali produced an amazing save to stop Ashleigh Plumptre’s freekick just before the break.

Nigeria came into the second half with a different attitude as they tried to get the equaliser but the Zambians dealt with any threat that came their way. 

The Copper Queens held onto their lead to ensure the bronze medal remained theirs with Nigerian finishing outside the top three since the 2012 tournament in Equatorial Guinea.

Goalkeeper David de Gea said he hopes to remain at Manchester United and help the Premier League club end their trophy drought after a “disaster” of a season.

De Gea’s contract expires in June 2023 and the Spaniard, who joined from Atletico Madrid in 2011, said he was open to signing an extension.

“If they let me stay I will stay, for sure. I’m really comfortable, happy, and hopefully before I leave we can win something more,” De Gea told reporters on Friday, adding that he had yet to open discussions about a renewal.

United endured a torrid campaign last season in which they failed to qualify for the Champions League after finishing sixth with 58 points – their lowest in the Premier League era.

The club also failed to win any silverware, extending their trophy drought to five years.

“We cannot do the same because it was a disaster,” De Gea said. “It was very tough, embarrassing sometimes.

“Some games were a mess. It was painful, unacceptable. Sometimes, you have to feel pain to go up and keep going.”

United play Aston Villa in a pre-season friendly in Perth later on Saturday before taking on Atletico Madrid in Norway on July 30.

They kick off their league campaign at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Aug. 7.

Golden Boot winner, Rasheedat Ajibade

The Super Falcons’ aspirations may not have been fully met at the just concluded Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, they however came out with some positives.

Apart from Asisat Oshoala winning of the Women’s African Footballer of the Year for a record fifth time, Rasheedat Ajibade was on Saturday named as joint winner of the Golden Boot for the top scorer.

She shares the honour with South Africa’s Hilda Magaia and Morocco’s Ghizlane Chebak who was also named the player of the tournament.

The three players finished the tournament with three goals each.

Asisat Oshoala has dedicated her record fifth CAF African Player of the Year award to her Nigerian Super Falcons teammates, who she hailed as the best international team in the world.

Oshoala saw off Cameroon’s Ajara Nchout Njoya and Zambia’s Grace Chanda to win the coveted award again at the CAF Awards 2022 in the Moroccan capital of Rabat

In so doing she now goes clear of compatriot Perpetua Nkwocha, standing alone on five African Player of the Year titles.

CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe presented the award to the Super Falcons and FC Barcelona star, who was overjoyed to yet again hear her name called to receive the prized trophy reserved for Africa’s best player.

“I had to fight hard to get to this point. I would like to thank all my teammates and my friends at my club FC Barcelona. Muchas gracias. I also have to thank my friends in the national team.

“You are the best teammates in the world. in football, there are many lessons and I would like to send a message ‘we can fall back, but we can get back up’,” said Oshoala in hailing the courage shown by the Super Falcons after being reduced to nine men to still take their semifinal against Morocco all the way to the penalty shootout.

Asisat Oshoala and the Super Falcons have qualified for the next edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup after reaching the semi-finals of the TotalEnergies WAFCON.

At club level, Oshoala also reached the final of the European Champions League with FC Barcelona.

Neymar said Saturday that he wants to stay with Paris Saint-Germain and does not “need to prove” himself to anyone after five years with the French club.

The 30-year-old Brazilian said no one from PSG had spoken to him regarding his future but he wants to continue playing in the French capital alongside Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

“I still want to stay here with the club,” Neymar said after PSG’s 3-0 win over J-League side Urawa Reds on the club’s tour of Japan.

“So far the club hasn’t said anything to me so I don’t know what their plans are for me.

“I don’t need to prove myself to anyone – I just need to play my football and I have to be happy playing football,” he added.

Neymar said he was feeling “fit” after coming on as a substitute with Messi to play the last 30 minutes of Saturday’s game.

He said it was “too early to speak about” his impression of new coach Christophe Galtier, who arrived at PSG from Nice at the end of last season.

Galtier said Neymar “has been working well” in pre-season and “seems happy and very fit”.

“What will happen in the near future when the transfer window closes, I don’t know,” said Galtier.

“We announce he’s leaving, we announce he’s staying – I haven’t spoken to Ney about this. But he doesn’t seem to be bothered about what is said about him and his situation at the club.”

Mbappe scored as PSG made it two wins out of two on their Japanese tour against Urawa in front of a crowd of 61,000 in Saitama.

Mbappe was the only PSG player retained in the starting line-up after Wednesday’s 2-1 win over Kawasaki Frontale and he fired home a well-taken goal from a tight angle in the 35th minute.

“Kylian Mbappe seems very happy to me, very fulfilled,” said Galtier.

“He is very dynamic in his training sessions.”

Pablo Sarabia and Arnaud Kalimuendo got the other two goals for PSG, who play Gamba Osaka on Monday in Osaka in the final game of their tour.

Galtier handed a start to Warren Zaire-Emery – just 16 years and four months old – alongside Marco Verratti in midfield.

“We had trouble getting into the game because the opposition was pressing us,” said Galtier.

“As soon as we got into the game we saw some interesting things, even if we still have a lot to improve when it comes to conceding chances.”

Technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Augustine Eguavoen has kind words for the Super Falcons despite the team disappointing showing at the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The nine-time champions lost in the semi-final to host nation Morocco via penalties.

The Super Falcons also failed to claim third position, going down to a 1-0 defeat against the Copper Queens of Zambia in Casablanca on Friday night.

The third time the West Africans will not be competing in the final of the WAFCON.

Despite the team failure to claim a 10th title in Morocco, Eguavoen praised the players for their effort in the competition.

Super Falcons Raise your heads up high. This is a very young team that will continue to grow. There were a lot of brilliant performances on display in Morocco. Massive well done on Qualification for our Ninth straight FIFA World Cup. Be very proud, Eguavoen wrote on his Twitter handle.

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan will fancy her chances of qualifying for her third straight semifinals in World Athletics Championships history when she files out for the third heat of the 100m hurdles first round on penultimate day of the ongoing competition.

The Nigerian, 25, has been drawn in a relatively easy first round heat with only the duo of Jamaica’s Danielle Williams and Switzerland’s Dijati Kambundji the tough nuts she needs to crack to be among the three automatic qualifiers for the semifinal.

Amusan is the fastest in the line up at 12.41 seconds and defeated Willaims four years ago to win the Commonwealth Games title in the Gold Coast, Australia.

However. the Jamaican denied the Nigerian the opportunity of winning her first World Championships medal three years ago in Doha where she edged Amusan to the bronze medal by two hundreth of a second (12.47 to 12.49).

The reigning African champion and record holder is bidding to become the second Nigerian woman after Glory Alozie to win a World Championships medal. She will also be targetting Alozie’s 12.44 seconds record at the Championships.

Amusan is her third trip to the championships. In her debut in 2017 she didn’t scale the hurdle to the final while three years ago she came agonisingly close to winning a medal, finishing fourth despite running inside 12.50 seconds thrice at the Championships.

Wilfred Ndidi stepped on the pitch for the first time in over three months as Leicester City defeated Derby County 3-1 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.

Ndidi missed the latter part of last season’s campaign after sustaining a knee injury in Leicester City’s UEFA Europa Conference League clash against Stade Rennes.

The midfielder recently picked up a minor injury in training which derailed his return to action.

The Nigerian started the encounter against the Rams and was replaced on the hour mark by Senegal star Nampalys Mendy.

Ndidi’s international teammate, Kelechi Iheanacho was in action in the game.

Iheanacho, who was also named in the starting line-up, put the Foxes ahead early in the second half.

AS Roma manager, Jose Mourinho, is set to sign another Manchester United star, Eric Bailly.

Recall that Mourinho recently signed midfielder Nemanja Matic from Manchester United this summer.

However, according to Football Italia, Mourinho would like Bailly to join him at Roma.

Bailly was Mourinho’s first signing at Old Trafford during his spell as Man United manager and now would like to work with the centre-back again.

The Ivory Coast international has since fallen out of favour at Man United, with the club said to be hoping to receive a fee of around £8.5 million for his services.

Bailly has played 113 times for Man United since joining the Premier League back in 2016.